Characterization of genomes of timothy (Phleum pratense L.). I. Karyotypes and C-banding patterns in cultivated timothy and two wild relatives

Abstract

In an attempt to know the phylogeny of timothy (Phleum pratense), the cultivated species and two wild relatives, Phleum alpinum and Phleum bertolonii, were karyotyped with conventional and Giemsa C-banding methods. In the hexaploid P. pratense (2n = 6x = 42), two sets of seven chromosomes were indistinguishable from each other both in morphology and in banding patterns and the third set of seven was found to be differentiated from them. Two genomes, A and B, were tentatively established. The banded karyotype in diploid P. alpinum (2n = 2x = 14) was close to the A genome, which was tetraploid in P. pratense, and the karyotype in P. bertolonii (2n = 2x = 14) was analogous to the B genome in P. pratense, which suggests these species were the genome donors of P. pratense.Key words: chromosome, genome, allopolyploid, Giemsa C-banding.